Personal safety alarm



y 1958 E. B. SIMPSON PERSONAL SAFETY ALARM Filed April 8, 1957 I INVENTOR. EMMETT B. SIMPSON 14 TTORNE Y United States Patent PERSONAL SAFETY ALARM Emmett B. Simpson, Greenville, S. C. Application April 8, 1957, Serial No. 651,261 Claims. (Cl. 116-67) This invention relates to alarms and more particularly to a personal safety alarm which provides an audible and visible signal for aid.

Devices constructed in accordance with the present invention are adapted to be carried in the hand of the user or otherwise on the person of the user in a position of ready access to the user in the event it becomes neccessary to summon aid to repel an attack or if, for any other reason, the user may wish to summon aid.

It is an object of this invention to provide an alarm device which may be easily carried on the person of the user and which may be made operative readily for the purpose of giving a visible and audible appeal for aid.

A further object is the provision of an alarm device in which substantially all of the operating parts are com tained within a casing which may be readily carried on the person of the user and which will contain its own power supply for actuating the alarm and signaling devices.

Another object of the invention is to provide an alarm which will continuously emit a visible and audible signal when released from the hand of the user and which may be thrown or kicked into the street or area in the immediate vicinity but beyond the reach of the attacker where the audible and visible signals may call attention to the area in which aid is needed.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of' a personal safety alarm in which substantially all the operating parts are carried on a plate which is resiliently mounted within a casing so that the alarm may be subjected to rough treatment without damage to the operating parts and to make for easy assembly of parts.

The construction designed to carry out the invention will be hereinafter described, together with other features thereof.

The invention will be more readily understood from a reading of the following specification and by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, wherein an example of the invention is shown and where- 1n:

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation taken along a vertical plane passing through the casing of a device constructed in accordance with the present invention, substantially along the line 11 in Figure 2,

Figure 2 is a sectional plan view taken substantially along the line 2-2 in Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is a perspective view looking from the righthand side of Figures 1 and 2 with the casing removed.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, a casing is broadly designated at vertical, resiliently mounted plate A positioned in the medial portion of the casing. A source of mechanical energy in the form of a wound spring B is mounted on the plate A and is provided with a system of gears C for actuating suitable mechanism to actuate an audible signal producing device, in this case the bell D. The gear system C also rotates the cam E which intermittently connects and disconnects sources of a visible signal, in this case, light bulbs F. As will be pointed out in greater 10. The casing contains a.

detail below, the mechanism actuating the signal devices is placed in operation by release of the control bar G. The casing 10 is substantially rectangular in shape and is flat so as to be carried conveniently on the person or in the hand of the user. The casing 10 includes a pair of parallel side portions 11 and 12 as well as a pair of end portions 13 and 14. Bottom and top portions 15 and 16 are also provided. The vertical longitudinally disposed plate A is resiliently positioned Within the casing 10 within the end abutments 17'and 18. The abutments 17 and 18 are constructed of rubber or other suitable resilient flexible material so as to protect the parts carried by the plate A from receiving undue shock when the device is thrown or kicked by the user to be put in operation. These parts may be assembled in any desired manner (not shown).

The plate A carries a wound spring B on a suitable winding stem 19 which is fixed to the spring. Access may be had to the square shank of the winding stem 1? through the aperture 20 Within the wall 12 of the casing 10. The casing 21 of the wound spring B carries a gear 22 mounted adjacent the plate A. The casing 21 and the gear 22 have fixed connection and are rotatably carried on the stub shaft 23 which has fixed connection with the plate A. The gear 22 is engaged by a gear 23, having a lesser number of teeth, so as to increase the gear ratio so as to increase the speed of rotation of an enlarged gear 24 which has fixed connection with the gear 23 and which is rotatably carried on a stub shaft 25 which has fixed connection with the plate A.

A clapper arm 26 is pivotally positioned on the frame as at 27 and has integral therewith a link 28 substantially at right angles thereto so that the lower portion of the link 23 engages the teeth of the gear 24 so as to be urged counterclockwise by the gear 24 against the action of the leaf spring 29 which normally urges the link 28 in a clockwise direction in Figure 3. The spring 29 is fixed at its upper end as at 30 to the plate A and is restrained against movement in its medial portion by the pin 31. The reciprocatory action of the clapper 26 which results from this movement produces ringing of the bell D by the clapper 32. It will be noted that the bell D is fixedly mounted on the plate A on the mounting stem 33 in isolated relation to the casing 10 and the plate A.

A smaller gear 34 also engages the teeth of the gear 24 so as to impart rotation to the shaft 35 on which the gear 34 is mounted. The shaft 35 is rotatably carried by the plate A and is journaled therein as at 36. The shaft 35 carries the cam E adjacent its free end and upon rotation the cam E, which is eccentrically mounted, will alternately engage the resilient contacts 37 and 38 to cause contact with suitable sources of electrical energy in the form of a pair of batteries 39 and 40 which are spaced and in opposed relation to each other. The batteries 39 and 40 are carried by the plate A by suitable brackets 41 and 42, respectively. The spring biased contacts 37 and 38 are fixedly carried by the plate A as at 37a and 38a respectively. Suitable light bulbs F are threadably carried by each of the end plates 13 and 14 of the casing as at 13b and 14b, respectively, and are surrounded for protection by suitable curved Plexiglas portions 43 and 44. It will be noted that the Plexiglas portions are preferably divided into plain and colored portions 43a, 43b, 44a, and'44b, respectively, so as to produce flashing lights of mixed coloration.

These cover portions 43 and 44 are retained by the casing by suitable projections 12a and 13a at the sides and at the bottom and top portions by projections 15a and 16a. These cover portions 43 and 44 are together with the actuating bar G and associated parts are the only elements of the device not included within the casing. The actuating bar G is carried by a pair of leaf operating elements of the device against operation is provided in the form of a latch 47 which may be turned on the shaft 48 which has connection with the casing 10.

The latch 47 may be turned to pass through the slot 49 provided in the actuating bar G. This release 47 is manually actuated by the user to place the device in operation as will be further explained below.

The actuating bar G carries a vertical plunger 50 which is slidably positioned within an abutment 51 carried by the casing 10. The plunger 50 is pivotally connected on its free end to a link 52 which is in turn pivoted as at 53 to a latch member 54 which is pivoted as at 55 to the plate A so as to be restrained against lateral movement. The latch member 54 normally engages the teeth of the gear 24 to restrain the action of the wound spring B thus holding the various parts in an inoperable position.

In operation, therefore, when the user is attacked or when it is desired to summon aid, the catch 47 may be turned so as to release the control bar G which is spring biased upwardly by the leaf springs 45 and 46 so as to release the operating mechanism so that upon release from the hand the device will emit visible and audible signals to summon aid to the user.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described using specific terms, such description is for illustrative purposes only, and it is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A personal safety alarm including, a casing adapted to be carried in the hand of the user, means providing an audible alarm carried within the casing, means providing a visible alarm carried within the casing, a source of mechanical energy actuating said audible alarm carried within the casing, a source of electrical energy also carried within the casing, cam means intermittently contacting the source of electrical energy also actuated by said source of mechanical energy to actuate the visible alarm, and automatic control mechanism which actuates the source of mechanical energy to thereby simultaneously actuate both the audible and visible alarm.

2. A personal safety alarm including, a casing adapted,

to be carried in the hand of the user, means providing an audible alarm carried within the casing, means providing a visible alarm carried within the casing, a wound spring carried within the casing, means operated by the spring actuating said audible alarm carried within the casing, a source of electrical energy also carried within 4 the casing, cam means intermittently contacting the source of electrical energy also actuated by said spring to actuate the visible alarm, and automatic control mechanism which actuates the spring to thereby simultaneously actuate both the audible and visible alarm.

3. A personal safety alarm including, a casing adapted to be carried in the hand of the user, a plate resiliently mounted within the casing, a source of mechanical en- 1 ergy carried by said plate, means producing an audible signal carried by said plate, a source of electrical energy carried by said plate, manually operable means releasing said source of mechanical energy actuating said means producing an audible signal, at least one light bulb energized by said source of electrical energy, and cam means also simultaneously actuated by said source of mechanical energy causing intermittent energization of said light bulb, whereby visible and audible signals are simultaneously emitted.

4. A personal safety alarm including, a casing adapted to be carried in the hand of the user, a plate resiliently mounted within the medial portion of said casing, a wound spring carried by said plate, means producing an audible signal carried by said plate, at least one battery carried by said plate, means actuating said means producing an audible signal, manually operable means releasing said spring actuating said means producing an audible signal, at least one light bulb energized by said battery, and cam means also simultaneously actuated by spring causing intermittent contact between said cam means and said battery causing intermittent flashing of said light bulbs, whereby visible and audible signals are emitted.

5. A personal safety alarm including, a casing adapted to be carried in the hand of the user, a plate resiliently mounted within the medial portion of said casing, a wound spring carried by said plate, a bell carried by said plate, a pair of batteries carried by said plate, means ringing said bell, manually operable means releasing said spring actuating said means ringing said bell, a pair of light bulbs energized by each of said batteries, and cam means also actuated by said spring causing intermittent contact between said cam means and said batteries causing intermittent flashing of said light bulbs, whereby visible and audible signals are emitted.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,535,582 Darrell Apr. 28, 1925 1,959,634 Mickle May 22, 1934 2,782,748 Zegarowitz Feb. 26, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 678,414 Great Britain Sept. 3, 1952 

